May 20, 2011

The designer of my dress, Lazaro, makes a gorgeous veil that matches my dress and from the pictures, I knew I would love it... I called before going for my first fitting to inquire about the price, and just as I expected, it was ridiculous... So why did I get there and ask to try on the veil ?? Well fortunately, they didn't have it but had a very similar one by Toni Federici - gosh not that the price is any better but I didn't ask before 1. trying it on and 2. falling in love with it.

look of dream veil

There dear friends, is where my dilemma begins. I called about a dozen stores looking for the veil in ivory - hoping to snag a sample; the one at the store I bought my dress is white - No luck !

Finally, I discuss this veil with KOK, hoping he would talk some sense into me and give me a host of reasons why it was ridiculous. But no, instead he says - "babe if they will sell you the veil for x or less, I'll make up the difference between your veil budget and the price for the dream veil." I must have said, "are you sure?" like a dozen times and he said, "yup, go for it."

I was ecstatic and the next morning, I call Irene at the bridal store to purchase my beloved veil. She gives a great deal - she's willing to sell the veil for 67% of the retail price; so I call KOK and ask what he thinks, he says to ask for 58% of the retail price. Irene says no, and we settle mid-way at 62% of the price, I give her my card details, and then she gives me the disclaimer that the purchase is non-refundable etc and that she'll place the order with the manufacturer as soon as we got off the phone.

I felt my stomach knot up, and I knew I could not go through with the purchase of the veil, yes it was a great discount, but the price was still ridiculous. I backed out, told Irene that I had changed my mind and I would call back later if I wanted it. I haven't called back and I still can't get my mind off the veil...

Today, I'll start with the first outfit I wore. First off, I did not see the outfit until the morning of the event. Among the Yoruba people, apparently, the grooms family is responsible for providing all that the bride wears that day. I use the word apparently because during the course of our traditional wedding coming together, there were many different opinions and some of my family felt it was their responsibility to dress me as I should come out in my own clothes as I was not married yet. The issues were resolved, and I wore the clothes provided by the K's family.
Since I hadn't seen the outfit, I had to rely on my sis-in-laws to describe the colours to me so I could pick the shoes and bag I would carry.

Jewellery - Coral beads known as Iyun Yoruba. The jewellery was custom made by Cephas Jewelers in Lagos - Touche Plaza, 25B Admiralty Way, Lekki, Lagos - 08029050775, 0818216655. My mom together with the owner of the store came up with the design and I didn't see until the week of the ceremony when I arrived in Lagos.

My make-up was done by the fabulous Banke Meshida Lawal; This was one of non-negotiable's. She also tied my head-tie and iro as well. I always knew I wanted her to do my make-up so when the traditional wedding was being planned, I left everything to my mom except make-up and my photographer. She did ask for my input on other stuff but I did not actively make the decisions.

My outfit was made up of a yellowish-cream aso-oke buba (the top of the outfit) , a fuschia pink gele (my head-tie) hand designed with touches of coral coloured designs and the iro (wrapper around my waist) is actually a single piece, the same fabric used in the buba was sewn on to the bottom of the alaari.The alaari cloth is mostly worn by the Ondo people in Nigeria (where K is from) and so it came into play in my outfit. For some reason, I do not have a close up of my shoes or clutch; will add when I get the CD of pictures from Enimien - our photographer.

Kola and I got our shoes from a shop in London called Ivory, they are located on Bond Street down the street from Pronovias shop there, and my clutch was from a friend - Yuwa who sells accessories - Sorrela.

complete outfit

another view of our outfits

Kola's outfit was sort of a tribute to his dad. His father passed away in January of 2006 and to honour him, Kola wore his fathers own clothes and the alaari cloth I had was actually custom designed to match. The only new items Kola wore was the white buba (his top) and his shoes. He also wore coral beads as well...

I love this picture of KOK

Complete Attire

All the photographs are by Enimien Etomi Inegbedion, our fantastic photographer. My other non-negotiable vendor for my wedding. She was amazing !! She will be doing a photo-booth at the wedding in Malta - I can't wait :) She was assisted by Lanre Balogun of Libran Eye.

May 10, 2011

Remember my last post about my shoe search coming to an end? Well I didn't get the Stuart Weitzmann shoes ... I shared the price with K, and he was not on board with it at all...

So it was back to the drawing board but not for long...

I came across these pretty, girly, romantic Badgley Mischka sandals at the Nordstrom Rack in Dallas when we went to visit K's brother and sis-in-law for New Years.

My eyes scanned the size of the shoes 7.5 :( I was disappointed but decided to look around to see if there were any other shoes that would catch my eyes.. Sitting under the final sale table was my size 8.5 :)

The best part in all this? These shoes were $16.22 and they fit beautifully ! I also went on to embellish as one of my something blues

So operation pick out wedding shoes officially complete !

I was also able to get my shoe-fix shopping for the different shoes for my traditional wedding - Look out next Tuesday for another Shoesday post !

May 08, 2011

my first mommy who's now in heaven. I'll always love you and you have a special place just for you in my heart :) I do wish you were here to celebrate and share with me in all the exciting things happening in my life but I know you're looking down from heaven and celebrating up there.

my wonderful second mom, who put in so much effort into making the traditional engagement spectacular! - Thank you. To my dad, who was "mr. mom" and dad as well for a while. I love you both too !

finally my amazing mother-in-law. According to her I'm her favourite :) lol ! But anyway she's a wonderful woman, who interestingly taught my first mommy in high school ! I'm excited to join your family :)

May 07, 2011

After a long hiatus, I am finally back! So many different things of gone on in the past few months. More about later: For now.. We had our traditional engagement on April 30, 2011.. Here is a slideshow of pictures from our wonderful photographer - Enimien Etomi Inegbedion